Emerging Methods In Psychology

The motivation for this volume in the History and Theory of Psychology series is to look across sub-disciplines within psychology and highlight instances where researchers transcended the tendency to think about methodology along traditional lines. Contributors have located examples of researchers who built upon existing ideas to create methods true to their interests and theoretical convictions. Emerging Methods in Psychology shows how a discipline creates new methods and carves out possibilities that not only generate data, but also advance knowledge of human psychological functioning. It concentrates on showcasing the possibilities that exist when the researcher focuses on the relationship between theory, method, and data. The question of what kind of expertise is required is a key issue. This is particularly the case in psychology where the tradition of standardizing methods over the last century has served to stabilize research questions. Knowledge creation is deeply affective and ambiguous rather than the secure accumulation of data by a socially legitimized procedure. This innovative volume moves beyond psychology as social engineering into new varieties of social knowledge.

This book provides an overview of cutting-edge methods currently being used in cognitive psychology, which are likely to appear with increasing frequency in coming years. Once built around univariate parametric statistics, cognitive psychology courses now seem deficient without some contact with methods for signal processing, spatial statistics, and machine learning. There are also important changes in analyses of behavioral data (e.g., hierarchical modeling and Bayesian inference) and there is the obvious change wrought by the advancement of functional imaging. This book begins by discussing the evidence of this rapid change, for example the movement between using traditional analyses of variance to multi-level mixed models, in psycholinguistics. It then goes on to discuss the methods for analyses of physiological measurements, and how these methods provide insights into cognitive processing. New Methods in Cognitive Psychology provides senior undergraduates, graduates and researchers with cutting-edge overviews of new and emerging topics, and the very latest in theory and research for the more established topics.

Social researchers increasingly find themselves looking beyond conventional methods to address complex research questions. This is the first book to comprehensively examine emergent qualitative and quantitative theories and methods across the social and behavioral sciences. Providing scholars and students with a way to retool their research choices, the volume presents cutting-edge approaches to data collection, analysis, and representation. Leading researchers describe alternative uses of traditional quantitative and qualitative tools; innovative hybrid or mixed methods; and new techniques facilitated by technological advances. Consistently formatted chapters explore the strengths and limitations of each method for studying different types of research questions and offer practical, in-depth examples.

Research Methods in Psychology has been substantially revised in its fourth edition. Continuing to offer enviable coverage of the research methods that psychology students at intermediate levels need to cover in their course, the textbook has now been broadened to cover the full suite of beginner level research methods too. The result is extensive coverage of psychological methods, both quantitative and qualitative, and a textbook that will serve students perfectly from day one in their course at university. Research Methods in Psychology in its fourth edition includes: • Extended statistical coverage, including new chapters on Descriptive Statistics, Inferential Statistics, ANOVA, Regression and Correlation, and Latent Variable Models • Further New Chapters on Content Analysis and Writing up your Research • New introductory sections placing each method in context and showing students how they relate to the bigger ′real world′ picture. • Intuitive structure and visual layout makes the book easy to navigate so you can quickly find the content you need. This textbook is ideal for beginner and intermediate level psychological research methods students worldwide. Visit the Research Methods in Psychology companion website www.sagepub.co.uk/breakwell4e to take advantage of additional resources for students and lecturers.

The family can be a model of loving support, a crucible of pathology, or some blend of the two. Across disciplines, it is also the basic unit for studying human relationships, patterns of behavior, and influence on individuals and society. As family structures evolve and challenge previous societal norms, new means are required for understanding their dynamics, and for improving family interventions and policies. Emerging Methods in Family Research details innovative approaches designed to keep researchers apace with the diversity and complexities of today's families. This versatile idea-book offers meaningful new ways to represent multiple forms of diversity in family structure and process, cutting-edge updates to family systems models and measurement methods, and guidance on the research process, from designing projects to analyzing findings. These chapters provide not only new frameworks for basic research on families, but also prime examples of their practical use in intervention and policy studies. Contributors also consider the similarities and differences between the study of individuals and the study of family relationships and systems. Included in the coverage: Use of nonlinear dynamic models to study families as coordinated symbiotic systems. Use of network models for understanding change and diversity in the formal structure of American families. Representing trends and moment-to-moment variability in dyadic and family processes using state-space modeling techniques. Why qualitative and ethnographic methods are essential for understanding family life. Methods in multi-site trials of family-based interventions. Implementing the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) to analyze the effects of family interventions. Researchers in human development, family studies, clinical and developmental psychology, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and social welfare as well as public policy researchers will welcome Emerging Methods in Family Research as a resource to inspire novel approaches to studying families.

"Psychologists have long understood that laboratory settings only approximate genuine human environments. Yet, how can the influence of the real world, with all its complexity and variability, be measured? This edited volume deals with this question by providing theoretical models and testing methods for quantifying physical and social environments that serve as contexts of human development." "This volume represents the state of the art in environmental assessment procedures and will be a welcome resource for psychologists specializing in assessment, methodology, and development."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This comprehensive introduction to Qualitative Methods in Psychology offers step by step practical advice and guidance on a range of important topics in this field. The qualitative researcher must learn how to collate data effectively in order to understand behaviour in a natural setting, how to understand an experience from the perspective of the research participant and also how to understand the meanings people give to their experience. Illustrative research studies throughout this book provide a picture of how different methods have been used to answer real research questions. Key concepts outline important terms and ideas; each chapter adopts a common structure to explain what each method encompasses, how to use it, and when to use it. Every chapter ends with recommended resources for further study including books, journal articles, and web pages as appropriate. Chapter overview and summaries provide a useful framework to help guide study and revision. The book is supported by a fantastic companion website www.pearsoned.co.uk/Howitt featuring a range of great resources to help students consolidate their understanding of qualitative methods. Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology will equip the researcher with the ability and knowledge to collate and analyse data, whilst taking into account ethical considerations, to enable them to write up their qualitative research report.

This book provides an overview of cutting-edge methods currently being used in cognitive psychology, which are likely to appear with increasing frequency in coming years. Once built around univariate parametric statistics, cognitive psychology courses now seem deficient without some contact with methods for signal processing, spatial statistics, and machine learning. There are also important changes in analyses of behavioral data (e.g., hierarchical modeling and Bayesian inference) and there is the obvious change wrought by the advancement of functional imaging. This book begins by discussing the evidence of this rapid change, for example the movement between using traditional analyses of variance to multi-level mixed models, in psycholinguistics. It then goes on to discuss the methods for analyses of physiological measurements, and how these methods provide insights into cognitive processing. New Methods in Cognitive Psychology provides senior undergraduates, graduates and researchers with cutting-edge overviews of new and emerging topics, and the very latest in theory and research for the more established topics.